Tokenized Security Program By PolySwarm Offers Bounty For Malware

Decentralized IT security marketplace PolySwarm is looking for a few good viruses.

The blockchain site has instituted a Security Expert Bounty Program, which will reward participants in Nectar tokens (NCT) for uploading malware to the platform. The contest launched January 19 and will continue until the end of the NCT token sale on March 8. Rewards will be capped at $300,000, with a maximum of $6,025 to be rewarded each day.

The Security Experts Program will allow each user to submit a single file per day. Only the first five files per malware family will be accepted, and all files will be evaluated on the following day. Nectar will be rewarded for malware samples that are unique to all other samples submitted and are detected by ClamAV. The amount of Nectar rewarded will be tiered in order of submission within its malware family, and each day a bonus malware family will be named on PolySwarm’s Telegram group.

Polyswarm expects an average upper bound of 1,334 submissions per day, totalling approximately 64,000 files over the duration of the competition.

The PolySwarm market runs on Nectar, an ERC20-compatible utility token that is used to submit and classify potential threats on the PolySwarm market. Nectar replaces traditional antivirus and threat-scanning subscription payments. The Nectar token sale begins February 6, 2018.

Paul Makowski, CTO and co-founder of Swarm Technologies, Inc., talked with Block Tribune about the program.

BLOCK TRIBUNE: Describe how the system works – will there be a front-end web site with an interface?

PAUL MAKOWSKI: There is a web-based frontend,

BLOCK TRIBUNE: Doesn’t this also incentivize hackers to develop variations on the existing threats in order to earn more tokens?

PAUL MAKOWSKI: Not necessarily. NCT is rewarded for ClamAV detections. New variants may not be detected by our ClamAV scanner and would not reap reward.

BLOCK TRIBUNE: What happens once the competition is over? How will new threats be monitored?

PAUL MAKOWSKI: We’ll likely keep the interface up for some time afterward to provide an easy on-ramp for more Experts. We’ll stop handing out NCT within several days after March 8th.

BLOCK TRIBUNE: Consumers will have to purchase Nectar tokens to take advantage of the engine?

PAUL MAKOWSKI: No. When PolySwarm itself is launched, yes. Experts will need Nectar to stake their position. For this contest, no, Swarm Technologies is providing everyone with Nectar usable for the competition.

BLOCK TRIBUNE: What is your differentiation between this and other anti-virus products?

These companies are structured in a way that rewards chasing threats against widely used software. They are financially incentivized to go after large threats to maintain a large client base. And while widespread vulnerabilities are indeed a concern, each of us as individuals are much more likely to be hit by smaller everyday threats.

PolySwarm is a decentralized anti-virus and cyber threat intelligence market made possible by Ethereum smart contracts and the blockchain.

PolySwarm brings enterprises, consumers, vendors and geographically-diverse security experts together into a single marketplace for more complete cyber threat detection. Experts craft and maintain competing software “micro-engines” that quickly identify the latest threats, attempting to outperform their competition. The combined protection of thousands of microengines allows for broader, faster coverage and more efficient threat intelligence.

BLOCK TRIBUNE: Tell me about your ICO plans. When does it start/end, how many tokens are being held back, what is the token limit?

PAUL MAKOWSKI: Token Sale Start Date: 2018/02/06, with total supply of token TBA, fixed at sale end date. The token is not minable, limited-supply, fixed based on total contributions; 70% of the total tokens will be created during the token sale, based on contributions. The remaining 30% will be split: Half (or 15% of the total) for the company and the other half to incentivize platform usage. Minimum contribution will be $100. ICO price of token: 31337 NCT / 1 ETH; Crowdsale Bonus tiers: 20%, 10% and 5